In the inspection of items such as fruits or vegetables, for example, prior to canning, there are normally performed a variety of manual and visual operations aimed at removing any item from the production line that exhibits any one of a variety of flaws. Proceeding with this same example, it is conventional for a substantial number of people to visually inspect each successive item such as an apricot half or peach half prior to canning in order to remove defective items which may, for example, contain a portion of a seed or pit.
There have been developed a variety of different inspection or detection systems for fresh fruit and vegetables or other items of commerce; however, it is still common practice to employ human inspection for many items rather than to employ available automated equipment. One of the reasons for this rejection of available automated equipment is the failure of mechanized or automated equipment to adequately compensate for physical variations in items inspected. As an example of the foregoing, peach halves moving along an inspection line have a relatively wide variation in shape, thickness and exterior opacity. Most mechanized inspection or flaw detection systems fail to accommodate for these variables and thus have not been widely employed.
The present invention provides an inspection or fault detection system which forms a basis of comparison from each individual item passing therethrough and which further provides electronic implementation of a substantial number of control functions required for fault detection, particularly in items having naturally varying characteristics.